Saturday, July 24, 2021

After the Storms...

A short but nasty thunderstorm here at Knepp around midnight, with squally winds. Then, full-frontal Armageddon either side of 5am, plus stair rod rain. 

Crucially, though, no wind. Emperors seem able to sit out downpours but, as we learnt last summer, it's the winds that damage them. So, looks like they got away with it this time...

Glowering morning, but the sun started to break through after 1pm and a still, warm and sunny afternoon ensued. Emperors were nicely active, especially around their oak sap 'feeder trees'. Some of the trees that were producing sap bleeds, though, have dried up, and were untenanted. All told, I saw 20 males and five females. All of the girls were around feeder trees, and were in excellent condition.

My guess is that the male emergence may now be complete here, but there should be quite a few more females to come...

Little news from elsewhere today. Looks like other districts weren't so fortunate with the afternoon sun, or folk had such a disturbed night that they didn't venture out Emperoring...



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